Councils attracting doctors

Councils are hoping a State Government enquiry will reveal the pressures they are under to finance attracting doctors to rural areas.

Some councils fund accommodation, relocation payments, money for new equipment and even a bonus for staying as part of their incentive packages.

New South Wales Shires Association president Ray Donald says he's hoping the enquiry into the long-term financial viability of councils will also put pressure back on the medical profession to take some responsibility.

He says enticing doctors to country towns using financial incentives really shouldn't be core business for councils, but many don't have any alternative as they feel a duty to bring doctors to their community.

Councillor Donald says unfortunately some doctors do take advantage of rural councils needing their services.

"In a minority of cases there does seem to be from medical practitioners an extreme attitude to this that they use the lever of the essential services that they provide to endeavour to extract an extra remuneration or incentives to go to various areas."